Summer solstice, seems a more logical place to begin a year than January 1st, though Matariki’s starting to take off. December’s a month full of celebrations & summeriness & stuff winding down. The shape of the year in the southern hemisphere seems to have a more logical narrative shape than the northern, decline into winter then rise again, as opposed to peaking in the middle and then falling down towards the end. Not that I’ve lived in the northern hemisphere.
A lot of endings around now, the Matrix and LOTR trilogies finished so hopefully it will be possible to breathe again in Wellington. I’ve finished what I was doing over the last year, so time for fresh starts. Next year looks to be full-on for me, starting with writing a chapter for a book on jazz in NZ, bringing Foisemaster down from Palmy + restarting The Winter (a mostly instrumental band that I was playing in this year, kind of Derek Bailey meets the Dirty Three - got the name because we had our first jam on the Winter solstice exactly half a year ago on the other side of the yinyang), and then going into Massey journalism diploma. Hopefully I can use journalism to rewire my brain a bit; having to go out and research the outside world a bit could be a way out of the introspective cul-de-sac which I now know to be fatal (though no introspection is just as dangerous).
In the meantime I get to go off south for the Visionz festival and do some tramping. Not sure how long I should spend on this – I can get as much time off work as I want but will have zero income while I’m away and still have to pay rent on my Wgtn flat along with accommodation, transport, food etc so will quickly become an expensive trip. Do I dismiss the money issue as unworthy of bothering with and do the Heaphy Track or do I have a shorter trip and come back to get some saving done? I do want to get overseas one of these decades, though by signing up for a course I’m locked into another year of Wellington anyway.
Too late, I need to go to bed for work in the morning. Spent the last couple of days on the computer but not getting much writing done - reading articles by my favourite contemporary non-fiction writer Erik Davis at www.techgnosis.com and watching Ali G and Samuel Beckett on Film DVDs (John Hurt in Krapp's Last Tape and Julianne Moore in Not I are brilliant). Haven’t said what I was going to which was something about drug culture & capitalism embodying each other, save it for next time. Happy Christmas.
http://fiffdimension.tripod.com
have a choice break, holiday season mate..
Posted by: himi at December 25, 2003 06:38 AM